


new person, same old mistakes

by monolade



Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Drabble, Drama, F/M, angst? its kind of angsty i guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-02
Updated: 2017-05-02
Packaged: 2018-10-26 19:42:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10793451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monolade/pseuds/monolade
Summary: You've got your demons, and she's got her regrets. Spoilers for endgame.





	new person, same old mistakes

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Tame Impala's "New Person, Same Old Mistakes" which is the inspiration behind this ficlet.
> 
> I actually haven't been able to find anything in the Codex regarding any sort of justice system in the Milky Way or Heleus...so I'm just drawing on Earth customs here. I'm also not quite sure where I'm going with this, so it may just be a series of drabbles.

The roar of the crowd on the Nexus was loud, too loud, and it seemed like the entire station had shown up for the meeting. The light was also too bright, too cold, too sterile like a medbay, so unlike the warm golds and reds on Kadara. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Keri reporting live, a real-time vid from the Heleus News Service streaming the entire affair to the rest of the galaxy. Sara felt like she was simultaneously in Elaaden and Voeld at the same time, her blood felt like ice but she was warm despite the climate controlled atmosphere of the Nexus. There was a loud ringing in her ears.

 

Director Tann cleared his throat, and the crowd grew quiet. He was joined at the front of the room by Moshae Sjefa, Keema Dohrgun, Nakmor Morda, Evfra, the Pathfinders, and the other outpost governors. ‘Funny,’ Sara thought wryly, ‘This is what it took for the Angara and the Resistance to join forces with the Milky Way species,’. She clenched and unclenched her fists, trying to keep her expression as neutral as possible. 

 

Tann spoke, his voice grating against Sara’s ears, “The Angaran-Initiative Joint Council is now in session. We have gathered here to discuss a grave matter, one that has serious implications for both the Angara and the survival of the Initiative here in Heleus,”

 

Always having a flair for the dramatic, Tann stood up and paced in front of the room on the raised dais, “A few galaxy standard weeks ago, the Resistance and Pathfinders Rix and Raeka unearthed traces of troubling communications between the Kett and our defendant here. Upon further investigation, we now have evidence of something far more sinister,”. Tann stopped mid-stride, raising his arm to point at the lone man in the center of the room, suspended in a stasis field. 

 

“This man, Reyes Vidal, is accused of treason against the Angara and the Initiative, conspiring to work with the Kett to reveal the location of Aya in exchange for something that has not yet been determined. This tribunal has been assembled to examine this matter,”. The crowd behind him roared, and some in the audience began to shout. It had only been a few months since Ryder had pushed back the Kett forces and defeated the Archon, but a steady stream of Kett attacks in the colonies had everyone on the edge. The attacks appeared to be getting more and more savage, opting to leave more charred bodies behind then taking colonists alive for exaltation. 

 

“Reyes Vidal, how do you plead?”

 

Reyes looked up, and glanced directly at Sara. She wished he hadn’t, because it was about to make what he was going to say that much harder. Sara quickly looked away, trying to quash the memories of him touching her, the two of them alone on Eos, bare feet dipping into the lake by Prodomos. “I wanted to take you on a Heleus beach date,” he said grinning at her as she kicked water at him. But that may as well have taken place lifetimes ago. Out of her peripheral vision, he could see his expression soften momentarily when she averted her gaze. 

 

A shadow fell over his face as he prepared to speak, all traces of Reyes Vidal gone from his voice. It was the Charlatan standing in front of them now. Somewhere during the soft sunset kisses and whiskey, Sara had forgotten that this man ruled Kadara, and was also dangerously close to unseating the Krogan on Elaaden to further extend the influence of the Collective. She wanted to laugh at her own shortsightedness. 

 

`Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t right?’ she thought bitterly.  

 

Maybe Sloane would have been simpler to deal with, less ambitious, so long as she sat on a throne and felt like she had some say Sloane would’ve been fine. But Reyes was different, insatiable in all aspects of his life, driven in more ways than she had expected and she had been so foolish to think that would change because of her. She drew a shaky breath, and hated that she could still smell him on her clothes. His scent always clung no matter how many wash cycles she put her clothes through, how many times she scrubbed her body and tried to forget. Whiskey, gun polish, and lead. 

 

Foolish. Foolish. Foolish. 

 

“Guilty.” he said flatly.

  
Sara felt bile rise up her throat. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading <3 come scream at me on Twitter @monobolical or Tumblr @gondowan.


End file.
